Riders Top Saints in Preseason Scrimmage

By Jordan Kuhns, 09/16/17, 9:45PM CDT

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Preston, Guttman score in loss

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Dubuque Fighting Saints managed to force a tie towards the end of the first period, but four unanswered tallies by the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders led them to a 5-2 win over the Saints on Saturday night at The Stable.

Harrison Roy, Bradley Stonnell and Spencer DenBeste all scored to put the game out of reach past the midway point of regulation. Stonnell and DenBeste scored within minutes of each other, extending Cedar Rapids’ lead to 5-1. Cole Guttman got one back midway through the third, but the Saints could not capitalize any further.

Marek Valach forced a steal at the blue line on a Fighting Saints major power play and skated in shorthanded and slipped the puck five hole past Saints netminder Cole Weaver to put the Riders up for good. The Saints had multiple power play chances, especially in the second period but were unable to tally on any of them.

After Steven Agriogianis scored to start the scoring, Quinn Preston took a nifty feed from Matthew Brown on a steal on the run to force a 2-on-0 break, and tapped the puck through a sprawled Connor Murphy, Cedar Rapids’ starting goalie, to tie the game up at one.

Blake Pietila took over in net for Murphy at the end of the second period, and stopped all but one shot fired his way.

The Saints are back in action for Fan Fest on Wednesday, September 20 at 6:05 p.m. against the Chicago Steel. Admission to the game is free! For tickets to all upcoming preseason and regular season games, call the box office at 563.583.6880, or go to DubuqueFightingSaints.com.